Insurance Affected by Credit
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Good drivers can usually expect a break on auto insurance, but for Florida drivers that may not always be the case. Florida insurance regulators are in a fight with industry executives over whether it is proper to use credit scores to set auto insurance rates.
In sworn testimony, insurance executives attested to the accuracy of using credit scores to set auto insurance rates. They say that credit scores more accurately predict potential losses than driving records.
What they couldn't explain was why "what you think is a weakness, and not knowing why there is a correlation is not a knowable thing. It's not knowable for any risk factor."
Two bills have been introduced to the legislature to stop the use of credit scores in setting auto insurance rates. Sponsor Sen. Ronda Storms (R-Tampa) says the practice just isn't fair. "The credit scoring has no impact on their driving skills or their ticketing" she said.
Hundreds of companies advertise ways to improve your credit score. Economist Birney Birnbaum says the sometimes inaccurate scores do not reflect risk. "Would you call someone financially irresponsible if their spouse was in the hospital with cancer and they decided that instead of paying the credit card bills they were going to pay the hospital?" he said.
The insurance industry contends that without credit scores in the mix half of all minorities could see their insurance rates go up. Following today's hearing regulators will examine the testimony and make recommendations to the legislature. Previous attempts to ban the use of credits for rate setting have failed.
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